SHE was born in Beijing and has lived there all her life. But like millions of others conceived in violation of China’s one-child policy, as far as the State is concerned, Li Xue does not exist.

    She has no right to schooling, health care or a formal job. Without a birth certificate or identity papers, she is a “black child,” — unable to join a public library, get legally married or even take a train. “Whatever I do, I’m blocked and have difficulties,” she said.

    Li’s parents already had one daughter — born with the right paperwork — and were on long-term disability leave from their jobs as factory workers when her mother accidentally fell pregnant. They did not want a second baby, she said, but she was too ill to terminate the fetus.

    Families who violate the rules must pay a “social maintenance fee” to legalize their children and secure them a hukou. Authorities set Li’s at 5,000 yuan (US$787) — far beyond the 100 yuan a month in benefits that her parents lived on, even before her mother was formally dismissed once her factory learned the news.

    Now 22, Li has always existed in an administrative netherworld. She realized she was unlike other children at the age of 6, when neighborhood playmates were sent off to school and warned off her company by their parents.

    “I began to see that my life was entirely different from those around me, and it was because I had no hukou,” she said.

    China’s official population stood at 1.37 billion at the end of last year, and 2010 census data showed that the country has 13 million “black children” like Li — more than the entire population of Portugal.

    Li said, “In the past 22 years, I’ve seen all too well how the government will say there’s this or that legislation or reform, but nothing actually changes on the ground.”

    The family lives in two rooms of a shared house in Beijing, with no bathroom. Li’s elder sister, Li Bin, dropped out of school at 16 to support the family, getting jobs at KFC and later at an electronics company.

    For now, Li Xue has found work at a restaurant willing to look past her undocumented status. “For the first time, I’ve been able to be judged on the basis of my skills, not my status, and it feels great,” she said. But she added, “This job is temporary. My future, I can’t even imagine it.”

    Implementation of the family planning policy has always varied across China, and a few areas have said they will start granting hukou to people whose parents have not paid the fines.(SD-Agencies)